Home-based businesses booming under Covid-19
Business.TRIBUNE CREATIVE
Amid the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, a large number of home-based tailoring and baking businesses are thriving in the federal capital.
These enterprising entrepreneurs are experimenting with unique ideas and do their best to cater to the odd-hour demands of customers while offering special discounts through social media platforms.
“Small businesses dealing in various commodities had suffered in the past few years. However, the emergence of various online platforms have provided them with an opportunity to keep their baking and tailoring businesses active in such challenging times,” a home-based female tailor said on Sunday.
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A large number of people mostly prefer to gift cupcakes and designer cakes to people these days and the demand for online home-based cakes is high, said a young baking expert.
“Small scale fashion designers and bakers of special cakes for birthday and wedding ceremonies are using online platforms to connect with their target market,” said another entrepreneur.
Since the announcement of stay-at-home orders owing to the prevailing coronavirus situation in the country, a majority of customers are likely to prefer buying and stitching clothes online instead of visiting shops physically to avoid interaction with people, said a retailer who owns an e-tailoring business.
Another tailor who has been stitching women's clothes at home for two decades said sewing clothes is the only source of revenue for thousands of women in the capital and e-platforms provide an opportunity to expand their customer base and businesses.
“Many women cannot leave their homes due to the Covid situation, therefore, stitching clothes at home is the best option for them,” explained an online customer.
Before the pandemic, home-based tailors did not get as many orders as a tailoring shop but now we are earning handsome amounts through e-tailoring businesses, she added.
Another customer said that more and more entrepreneurs are coming to the forefront and at the same time providing the masses with effective solutions and services.
A mother of two and the only breadwinner in her family added that rich women could afford to purchase ready-to-wear clothes from designer outlets whenever they wanted, but many middle-class women depend on online tailoring businesses for affordable options.
Meanwhile, a home-based baker maintained that e-baking is the best online option for consumers during the current crisis. He said that we have a variety of cake designers working for us, which always attracts a lot of our customers.
“We have had unprecedented demand due to restricted timings of shops. On the other hand, we are working round-the-clock to meet customers’ orders and deliver at their doorsteps,” said another baker.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2021.